Assessment in Virtual Worlds using Sloodle

I attended an early morning webinar which was hosted by the University of Adelaide, Australia and presented by Daniel Jack Livingstone (University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, Scotland, UK) on "Transforming Assessment".

SLOODLE (Simulation Linked Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) integrates 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life and OpenSim with the open source Moodle learning-management system (LMS) to facilitate student interactions in the 3D world whilst maintaining the affordances of an LMS for tracking and assessing student actions and responses. The session looked at how Sloodle can be used to develop interactive educational activities by using the various assessment tools that are available. The following is a list of just a few SLOODLE tools:

• Web-intercom - A chat-room that brings Moodle chatroom and Second Life chats together. Students can participate in chats in Second Life using the accessible Moodle chatroom. Discussions can be archived securely in a Moodle database.
• Registration booth - Identity management for Second Life and Moodle. Link students’ avatars to their Moodle user accounts.
• Quiz tool and 3D Drop Box - Assess in Second Life – grade in Moodle. Set quizzes or 3D modelling tasks in an engaging 3D environment. Review grades quickly and easily in the standard Moodle gradebook.
• Choice tool - Allow students to vote (and see results) in Second Life as well as in Moodle.
• Multi-function SLOODLE Toolbar - Enhances the Second Life user interface. Use a range of classroom gestures, quickly get a list of the Moodle user names of the avatars around or write notes directly into to your Moodle blog from Second Life.
• Presenter - Quickly author Second Life presentations of slides and/or web-pages on Moodle. Present in Second Life without having go through lengthy processes to convert or upload images.

References:

SLOODLE [Online] Available at http://www.sloodle.org/blog/?page_id=2 accessed November 2010